Tag: books read

Sunday Post | Progress

Posted October 12, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 17 Comments

Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings. 

Slow Progress Is Still Progress

I had another busy week last week and didn’t get a lot of reading done; I finished two books and that was it. I’ve been working on a project for a long time and it’s very close to being done, hopefully in the next 2-3 months, so I’m trying to push as much as I can. It has been slow going before due to a lot of unforeseen issues that cropped up, but as long as nothing else unexpected happens, I feel like we’re good and we’ll finish strong!

The Conqueror Challenge

I did pretty good on The Conqueror Challenge last week but I ended up hurting my knee on Thursday in the second km and walked the rest of the way home. I was also going to try walking 8km this morning but I got tired and only did 5.7km.

I’m still ahead of my goal, so there’s that, even though I’m walking some of the time instead of running, and I did get in almost 20km this week. I find myself trying to hit certain milestones in order to get the virtual rewards offered in the app, and they are fun, but I really want that physical medal as the ultimate reward!

There’s still a long way to go but I’m already excited about the prospect of finishing this challenge and getting that medal. And then I’m anticipating the next challenges and the next medals! This thing is seriously addicting and I don’t know yet if that’s a good or bad thing! 😂

All the happy things:

  1. It’s my birthday on Monday and we’re getting my favorite Sichuan food to celebrate!!
  2. I also got myself a one-year subscription to Audible as a birthday present to myself!
  3. And I got it at a discount!
  4. I made some yummy chicken wings in the air-fryer and they were so good!
  5. Feeling very optimistic about finishing my work project soon. 🤞
  6. Really enjoying my online bookclub, not just for the buddy reads and book discussions, but the chats and jokes as well. ❤️
  7. Despite my setback hurting my knee, I’m very happy with The Conqueror Challenge keeping me motivated to walk/run now that the weather is getting cooler.
  8. I’m really enjoying seeing the Halloween decorations popping up bit by bit around my neighborhood. 👻

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – It was a good book with a good story but it turned out a little preachy and I didn’t like that.
  2. The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth – It wasn’t the best mystery but I really enjoy the way the author writes about familial relationships, and especially something as complicated as the relationship between mother- and daughter-in-law.

Book(s) I’m reading:

  1. Exhalation by Ted Chiang – There are 9 short stories. I finished 6 and have 3 more to go. It’s all been very thought-provoking so far.
  2. The Shining by Stephen King – It’s a reread and a buddy read. I’m at 20% so far and loving it.
  3. Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes – I started this audiobook because I listen to audiobooks to fall asleep and I needed something not scary (ie. not The Shining!). It’s actually pretty good so far!

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

I’m anticipating another busy week (plus it’s my birthday!) so I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to read but I really, really want to get started on Never Whistle At Night if I can!

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Sunday Post | Moving On Up

Posted October 5, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 15 Comments

Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings. 

Valar Morghulis

Well, this has been a busy week!

One of the biggest highlights of my week is that I signed up for The Conqueror Challenge! It’s a virtual running challenge (or any activity, really) with lots of fun virtual rewards, and a real medal you get in the mail when you complete the challenge, and they had challenges that corresponded to quests and adventures in The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other real and fictional places!

I hadn’t been doing as well with my running as I would’ve liked in the last few weeks, and as the weather gets colder, I’m afraid that I might lose motivation to go outside and run, so when I came across this challenge I thought that maybe it might help keep me motivated.

I was hesitant at first, but apparently one of my friends has finished two challenges with them and spoke highly of the experience, so that made me excited too and I ended up signing up for the Game of Thrones challenge!

So far it has worked very well, because I’ve walked and ran a total of 23.31km last week, 8.14km of them from just this morning! It makes me excited to get out more and get as many kms in as I can. It pushes me especially when I see how much more I have to go to reach the next checkpoints, but I’m also trying to pace myself because I don’t want to finish the challenge too quickly!

I’m just so delighted about this because it combines my new-found love of running with my existing love for Game of Thrones (and other stories)!

I’m also no longer apprehensive about when real winter comes (Winter is coming!) and probably not feeling like running at all. I have less motivation to run at home on a treadmill, but I think I’d be able to convince myself to get in some kms for the sake of moving forward in my GoT adventures!

Zoo
We also went to the zoo last week. It’s been a couple of months since we last went and I’ve missed the animals. It’s also a great place to walk and get in my kms! You bet I counted them for my challenge!

The penguins were the star of the show this time around. One of them kept swimming up to us and checking us out. I wanted to pet it so badly, it was that close, but of course we weren’t supposed to so I didn’t.

Inside Out 2
One more thing I have to talk about; my husband and I finally watched Inside Out 2 last week, and that portrayal of Anxiety made me cry because of how accurate it feels like for me.

I have had many sleepless nights and anxiety attacks and although my husband has always been loving and patient with me even at my worst times, I don’t think he’s ever understood what it felt like, and I love that the show was able to show him in a way that I was never able to articulate.

It’s been so much better for me recently; Anxiety has taken a back seat and Joy is leading the way a lot more, but it was just so cathartic to watch this show and feel so seen and realize I’m not alone. I love the first movie, and I love this one too!

All the happy things:

  1. So very happy about my virtual running challenge!
  2. And about my renewed motivation for running/walking in order to get the kms!
  3. And about the fact that I got in 23km this week!
  4. I even got my fastest pace at 8min/km! I’m usually at about 10min/km. Of course, I was exhausted after, and I don’t think I want to kill myself like that again for a while, but I was still very happy about it.
  5. The zoo visit made me very happy too, especially since we haven’t gone in a while, and we’re not sure when we’ll be going again.
  6. It’s a new month so we got KFC last week! We only get KFC once a month as a treat, and it’s such a happy treat!
  7. I baked a new batch of cookies!
  8. I’m starting a new crochet project with some gorgeous yarn and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer – It didn’t live up to expectations but it wasn’t bad. It’s categorized as adult fiction but it feels like it might be better suited for middle grade.
  2. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – This is a reread and a buddy read. It’s been a while since I read it the first time so I didn’t remember much of the details except that I loved it and I thought it was such a great example of interpersonal connections and acceptance of other cultures and beliefs. Reading it a second time made me love it more!
  3. The Girl from the Other Side Volume 9 by Nagabe – It ended on a cliffhanger that’s making me very anxious to find out what happens next! Most of the other volumes end on cliffhangers too, but this one makes me wonder how it’s going to move forward.
  4. I Fell In Love With Hope by Lancali – DNF. I’d been trying to read this book for weeks and I just couldn’t get into it. I finally realized that it’s just too purple prose-y for me. Too much style and not much substance. The writing is beautiful and it might’ve been good if done in poetry maybe, but as a story it’s a struggle to read.

Book(s) I’m reading:

  1. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – I am 70% in and I am loving it! It’s my first Octavia Butler book and I’ve heard so much praise for this book but I’ve never known what it’s about. Now I am totally invested!

Last Week on The Blog

I didn’t do very much on the blog last week. I’ve got some book reviews to catch up on!

This Week

I gotta get on the book reviews because I don’t want them to pile up on me. I’m also going to try to get a start on Never Whistle at Night, and/or The Glass Chateau.

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Sunday Post | Whelmed

Posted September 28, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 13 Comments

Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings. 

Not Overwhelmed

I looked up the word “whelmed” just to make sure it meant what I thought it meant, and it doesn’t, but that’s fine because I’m actually quite whelmed. Not overwhelmed, but I am whelmed.

I have been tired most of last week and I thought I’d have some time to rest this weekend but today turned out quite eventful too – my irl bookclub had our meetup this morning, and then we went to grab lunch together so I got home hours later than I thought I would. But I had fun and I love hanging out with my bookclub so I’m not complaining!

Trying to keep this post short though, because I’m still whelmed and all I want to do is lie down on the couch and doom-scroll on my phone.

All the happy things:

  1. We had someone new join us for our book club meetup today!
  2. And then we all went for lunch after!
  3. One of my friends treated me to lunch. It was delicious and I’m so appreciative of wonderful people like her.
  4. Went for my regular checkup and the doctor says everything looks great!
  5. I leveled up in my Discord bookclub! It’s a role thing and gets you additional benefits in the server.
  6. I’m also getting points for the buddy reads I signed up for, which gets you additional benefits when you level up as well. It’s a lot of fun!

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. Perfume by Patrick Süskind – It’s my irl bookclub BOTM and everybody finished it and enjoyed it! Even the newcomer! It’s weird but good, and I really enjoyed listening to it on audiobook.
  2. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center – I’ve been enjoying Katherine Center’s books very much and I really liked this one too! It got me quite emotional, especially near the end.
  3. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle – I really like the premise of this book, and Julia Whelan narrates it so of course I was going to read it! The execution wasn’t as good as I hoped, but I still enjoyed reading it.
  4. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster – I just reread this book last month and here I am rereading it again! This time it was for a buddy read that I instigated, so I felt obliged to read it with everyone else, but it’s not like it was difficult for me to love it all over again! 😂
  5. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins – This book is very well-written but I’m not sure how I feel about it. I loved almost everything about it but I’m struggling with the message. If you’ve read the book, I’d love to know what you think.

Book(s) I’m reading:

  1. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer – Currently on page 87 of 278. I like it so far! I’ve heard lots about it and I’ve been curious for a while so I hope it lives up to expectations.

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

I haven’t read very many books from my buddy reads TBR list last week because I needed some fun and light romance. I’m ready to jump back into them this week!

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Monthly Wrap Up | July 2024

Posted July 31, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 10 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

July 2024 Wrap Up

July was another hectic month, but for positive reasons this time. June was hard and it made me realize I needed to change certain things and build better habits. Obviously, things don’t change overnight, but I think I made a good effort this July to get things started.

I started waking up at 6.30am in the mornings and go for a walk/run (alternating because I’m not quite in good shape yet). Some days are harder than others, but the important thing is that I showed up. I’m also looking into continuing education classes I can take and I’ve been doing some research and legwork on that. I’ve organized and reorganized my workspace and workflow, purged some things in my life that no longer served, and am trying to prioritizing the important stuff.

To be honest, I’m still floundering and some days I’m full of self-doubt and throw out everything I thought I was clear on the day before. We also had a heat-wave this month and some days were so bad I couldn’t bring myself to do anything except lie down on the cool floor and not move.

Still, it was a good month overall, even though I haven’t been very present here on the blog and in the blogosphere. I’ve missed visiting with all of you, and I’m trying to figure out how to manage my time better so I can still do the things I love.

My July 2024 TBR Intentions

  1. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
  2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  3. Feeling Good by David Burns
  4. The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
  5. Frequency by Penney Pierce
  6. The Enchanted Life by Sharon Blackie

I only read two of my TBR intentions this month, but the good news is that my broader intentions were to read more nonfiction and books I own, and I did that! Out of the 12 books I read this month, five were nonfiction, and eight are books I own! So I did pretty good!

Books Read in July 2024

  1. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
  2. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
  3. Network Effect by Martha Wells
  4. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
  5. Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky
  6. Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
  7. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
  8. Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher
  9. The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher
  10. Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
  11. The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
  12. Braiding Sweetness by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Notable Books This Month

I got lucky again this month because almost every single book was great! The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs was a bookclub read, and our bookclub went for a road trip to the Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum after that, so it added to the experience. It was so much fun and I love spending time with these people!

The picture isn’t very good, unfortunately, but we couldn’t take too many because it was pretty crowded and there were other people wanting to take pictures too.

I also really loved Women in Science more than I expected. It features so many amazing women and their contributions in history, and all the important information is presented so interestingly and succinctly. I loved reading every single one of them.

Project Hail Mary was a reread – I read it a while ago on print, but I keep hearing about how it’s so good on audio, and I really wanted to experience that. I’d been listening to audiobooks through Libby and my library all this time, but PHM was only available through Audible so I finally signed up for it just for this book. That’s how they get you! But hey, so far it’s been worth it. I loved listening to PHM on audio, and I’m enjoying so many other audiobooks on the Audible Plus catalog as well.

As I said, I loved almost every book I read this month, but I’ll leave the rest of the gushing to reviews I’m planning to write for them!

Reading Challenges

I achieved a few of these challenges a couple of months ago, but instead of marking them done I upped the challenges instead. I’m now rethinking that decision, because I haven’t done well in some of the other challenges and I think I should focus on the unfinished ones instead of adding to the challenges I already finished.

August 2024 TBR Intentions

This month I’d like to try knocking out the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge. I only have five more prompts to go, and I’ve got a couple of books I’m excited to read that would fit the remaining challenges, so I think it would be very doable.

The prompts are:

  • 13. An academic thriller
  • 17. Nominated for the Booker Prize
  • 37. Palindrome on the cover
  • 42. Author debut in the second half of 2024
  • 48. The word “secret” in the title

I’m planning to read, respectively for each prompt, but subject to change:

  • If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
  • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  • The Women by Kristin Hannah
  • Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
  • The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

I do have some other books in mind for some of these prompts so I might end up changing my mind, but the goal is to finish the challenge so as long as I read books that fit the prompts, I’m good!

How was your month in July? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful August with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | June 2024

Posted July 3, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 2 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

June 2024 Wrap Up

June was a difficult month for me for a few different reasons and I wasn’t able to do a lot on the blog. I didn’t read very many books compared to last month, but I did spend a lot of time escaping into books, which was good. I’ve been emotionally exhausted and haven’t wanted to post on the blog at all, but I get hesitant about reading more books if I’ve left a lot of books unreviewed. I also needed to get this monthly update done because I’d feel like something was missing if I didn’t!

I’m just doing the bare minimum for now, so please bear with me. I’m trying to sort myself out and I’ll be back to normal as soon as I can. Also, I know I have a lot of blog visiting to catch up on. I’m sorry!

My June 2024 TBR Intentions

  1. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
  2. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
  3. Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  4. Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  5. Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  6. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  7. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  8. Nina the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  9. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
  10. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
  11. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Books Read in June 2024

  1. Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
  2. Heartstopper 2 by Alice Oseman
  3. Heartstopper 3 by Alice Oseman
  4. Heartstopper 4 by Alice Oseman
  5. Heartstopper 5 by Alice Oseman
  6. Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
  7. Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  8. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  9. Far From You by Tess Sharpe
  10. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  11. You Like It Darker by Stephen King
  12. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Voung

Notable Books This Month

Almost every single book I read this month was great!

I think my favorites were the Heartstopper books, which really surprised me because I didn’t think I’d be interested in reading about teenage boys, but it was the most wholesome, happy, cute book and I loved all the characters!

You Like It Darker by Stephen King was another favorite, but no surprise there, I knew I was going to love anything he wrote. Every single one of the stories were great, and I really just keep wanting more!

Another book that did surprise me is On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. I went in not knowing much about it but ended up finishing the book in one day because it was just so lyrical and beautiful and I couldn’t stop listening.

Hello Stranger and David Copperfield were amazing too, but there were too many strong contenders this month! I think Hello Stranger is my favorite Katherine Center book so far, and David Copperfield is just so good especially after reading Demon Copperhead.

It’s not my intention to list every book I read this month, just the notable ones, but it’s not my fault that they were all so good!

Reading Challenges

July 2024 TBR Intentions

This month I want to try to make a dent on more nonfiction and books I own. I’ve neglected them for years, so I want to at least try to get some read!

  1. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
  2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  3. Feeling Good by David Burns
  4. The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
  5. Frequency by Penney Pierce
  6. The Enchanted Life by Sharon Blackie

I still want to read fiction and books I listed for last month’s TBR, but I want to try to prioritize these for the month.

How was your month in June? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful July with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | May 2024

Posted June 2, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 4 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

May 2024 Wrap Up

I read some really great books this month! Yayy! I managed to read 18 books, but only 3 of them were from my May TBR intentions. I got very, very sidetracked! I don’t expect to follow my TBR to the letter, of course, but I’d like to try to rein it in just a little so that I’m actually reading towards my challenges and goals!

My May 2024 TBR Intentions

  1. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  2. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
  3. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTeirnan
  4. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
  5. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
  6. The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
  7. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Books Read in May 2024

  1. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
  2. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  4. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
  5. Funny Story by Emily Henry
  6. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
  7. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  8. The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth
  9. The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
  10. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan
  11. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
  12. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
  13. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
  14. Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
  15. Maybe This Time by Cara Bostone
  16. Mad Love by Wendy Walker
  17. Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft
  18. Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

Favorite Book(s) This Month

I should probably rethink this section and do a “Notable Books of the Month” rather than a favorite, because I don’t think I could ever just choose one!

The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie were amazing! I meant to binge through to the third book and write a collective review for the series in May, but I just only finished reading the final book in the series, Last Argument of Kings, today! So I guess it’ll be a June review.

Funny Story was another favorite, maybe my favorite Emily Henry so far! It was hilarious and made me laugh out loud so many times!

Carrie Soto is Back is also a favorite. I love TJR’s books, and I think Malibu Rising and this book is at the top of my favorite TJR books!

Reading Challenges

June 2024 TBR Intentions

I’m trying to be good and focus on the books I meant to read and/or that count towards my reading challenges and goals, but there are several books listed here that had been scheduled as buddy reads and bookclubs’ BOTM, so I’m just going to do my best!

  1. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
  2. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
  3. Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  4. Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  5. Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  6. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  7. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  8. Nina the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  9. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
  10. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
  11. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

I’m most excited for the Dragonlance Chronicles because I’ve been wanting to reread them for ages, but I’m excited about the other books too!

How was your month in May? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful June with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | April 2024

Posted April 30, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 5 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

April 2024 Wrap Up

I finished 16 books this month and there were a lot of really good ones! A couple of them were books I started months ago and just happened to finish this month (The Count of Monte Cristo and Blitz). There were a couple of poetry, graphic novels, and short books.

I managed to finished four of my intended TBR, and there was one DNF, but overall I’m happy because I finished the ones with deadlines (book clubs/buddy reads/readalongs) and I can read the others later.

My April 2024 TBR Intentions

  1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  2. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  3. A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal (DNF)
  4. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
  5. A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross
  6. Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
  7. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
  8. The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
  9. The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Books Read in April 2024

  1. Funny Feelings by Tarah Dewitt
  2. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
  3. The Way Forward by Yung Pueblo
  4. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
  5. Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
  6. Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent
  7. The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
  8. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  9. Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham
  10. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
  11. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  12. Slewfoot by Brom
  13. Blitz by Daniel O’Malley
  14. I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara
  15. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
  16. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

Favorite Book(s) This Month

Oh I don’t like this game anymore! I cannot choose one, there were so many amazing books this month! I’m gonna cheat and go with multiple books; The Way Forward, Bookshops & Bonedust, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Kite Runner!

On The Blog

Top Ten Tuesdays

Time Travel Thursdays

Sunday Posts

Reading Challenges

May 2024 TBR Intentions

I’ve already started on The Blade Itself, and Sea of Tranquility is for my in-person book club for May. Hopefully I’m able to finish as many of the other books as possible.

  1. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  2. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
  3. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTeirnan
  4. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
  5. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
  6. The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
  7. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

I’ve been anticipating some of them since the beginning of the year and I’m excited to get to them as soon as I can!

How was your month in April? What were your most memorable moments? I hope you have a wonderful May with lots of great books!

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Sunday Post | So Much Walking

Posted April 27, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 14 Comments

Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings. 

So Much Walking

Last week I found the perfect route to walk around my neighborhood, and as of this writing, I’ve walked it six times already! It also helps that the weather has been lovely. It looks like there’s going to be some rain this week, but I will do my best to go for walks when the weather is nice.

I also did a lot of cooking last week but forgot to take pictures except for a couple of them; steamed black bean pork ribs, and romaine lettuce cooked with fermented bean paste. They were both really yummy!

There was also miso soup, mapo tofu, gailan in oyster sauce, napa cabbage stir-fry, onion omelette, and I don’t remember what else. I’m so glad I’ve been walking a lot because I think I’d start putting on a lot of weight if I keep eating all these yummy food!

As for TV shows; we finally caved and resubscribed to Netflix again and we’ve been catching up on the shows we loved. I’m watching Formula 1: Drive to Survive Season 6 with my husband, and Blown Away Season 4 on my own. I love both these series so much and I guess I couldn’t resist when there were new seasons!

This weekend I’ve got two book discussions! I just had my in-person book club meeting Saturday morning for The Kite Runner, and the final check-in for The Count of Monte Cristo is happening Sunday morning! The discussion for The Kite Runner gave me a lot to think about, the book is just really good, and one of the other book club members got me interested in reading Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns as well.

I’m also looking forward to the discussion of The Count of Monte Cristo – there’s already been some discussion in the chats that incited some passion, and I’m excited for more of the same for the live discussion!

Overall, I’ve been in a weird mood. I told my husband there were times last week when I felt proud and productive for all I’ve managed to get done – the walks for my health, the reading and book reviews, the cooking, etc. But then I look at the things I didn’t get done – the laundry, organizing my library, half-done projects, and so many things I initially planned for that I’m not even close to starting, and I feel… antsy. I want to get them all done, and I know I have to sort of pace myself, work on my time management and energy. I don’t know if I’ll have to give up on some stuff, but I prefer not to. I’m just taking things one at a time and focusing on the good stuff.

All the happy things:

  1. I managed to catch up with all my book reviews!!
  2. I’m truly estatic for my new walking route – it’s so conducive to audiobook listening and I’ve just loved my walks!
  3. I finally finished books that have been on my TBR for ages!
  4. Two book club discussions in a single weekend! (And another one to look forward to next weekend!)
  5. The food!

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff – A 3-hour audiobook that went quickly, but what a joy to read! I feel like this is one I’d like to come back to over and over again.
  2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – So good, so heartwrenching, so many feels! It’s just so well-written!
  3. Slewfoot by Brom – It’s better than The Child Thief, and I love the illustrations, but at the end of the day, I don’t think this author is for me. I’m glad I got it read though!
  4. Blitz by Daniel O’Malley – I read this halfway and had to return it, and finally got it back again and finished it! I expected to see more of the characters we met in the first two books, but this story is about brand new characters and we don’t see much of the past characters. It’s still good as a story in itself though!
  5. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara – This has been on my TBR for years! I kept putting it off because of the dark subject matter and not being in the right frame of mind to go there. I finally decided to get it over with, and I’m so glad I did because it’s really worth reading!

Books I’m reading:

  1. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande – A physician friend recommended this book to me more than 10 years ago, and I’m finally reading it now. I’m about 80% in.
  2. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton – This is a graphic novel, and I’m really interested in it because I live in the Oil Sands province. I’m about 100 pages in.
  3. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie – I’m only 2% in on this one, but I’m supposed to finish it in a week! 😭

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

I meant to read The Blade Itself last week, but I got distracted by other books, and now I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish it in time for the discussion this upcoming weekend. It’s a longer book with a bigger cast of characters, I’ve been told, but I’ll try to finish it in time!

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Monthly Wrap Up | March 2024

Posted April 3, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 4 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

March 2024 Wrap Up

I only read eight books this month, which isn’t bad at all, but last month I read a whole bunch so I had expected better for this month. I also had a couple of reading slumps, and I was reading a few really dense and thick books. I felt like I was slogging through molasses. Hopefully April will be better!

My March 2024 TBR Intentions

  1. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
  2. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
  3. A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
  4. A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross
  5. The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
  6. Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
  7. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherworlds by Heather Fawcett

Books Read in March 2024

  1. A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
  2. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
  3. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
  4. The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
  5. Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday
  6. Signal Moon by Kate Quinn
  7. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
  8. Bear by Marian Engel

Favorite Book This Month

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo. The Sparrow was really amazing too and I’d say technically, it’s a better book than The Fox Wife, but it was a much more difficult read emotionally and so for that reason I enjoyed The Fox Wife more.

On The Blog

Top Ten Tuesdays

Time Travel Thursdays

Sunday Posts

Notes & Discussion Posts

Reading Challenges

2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge – 3/12
2024 Series Ender Reading Challenge – 1/5
2024 Finishing the Series Challenge – 2/4
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge – 4/12
2024 Bookish Books Challenge – 3/10
2024 Audiobook Challenge – 16/30
2024 Library Love Reading Challenge – 27/36

April 2024 TBR Intentions

I still want to read the books I didn’t get to in March, so I’m bringing them forward. I don’t think I’ll be able to finish all of these in April, but who knows. I should also probably add some nonfiction and classics in there for my reading challenges, but I figure since there are more diverse authors on this list, I could potentially knock out a few for my Diversity reading challenge, and then catch up to the other challenges later.

  1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  2. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  3. A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
  4. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
  5. A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross
  6. Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
  7. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
  8. The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
  9. The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

I’m looking forward to all of these!

How was your month in March? What were your most memorable moments? I hope you have a wonderful April with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | February 2024

Posted February 29, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 6 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

February 2024 Wrap Up

I had a pretty good reading month. I read 19 books, which is a lot more than my usual, but 11 of them were novellas/middle-grade/graphic novels so I got through them fast. I’m also very happy that I managed to read/cross-out several of my February TBR intentions, although I’m a bit disappointed because the two books I dnf’d were meant to count towards my Diversity Reading Challenge goal, and obviously they can’t count anymore. I also had a couple of books on the list meant to count towards my Nonfiction Reading Challenge, but I didn’t get to those either.

Fortunately, I did manage to read other books that counted towards those goals, so I’m not too disappointed! Here’s my February TBR list to recap, and then below are the books I actually read for February.

My February 2024 TBR Intentions

  1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
  2. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
  3. Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley
  4. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherworlds by Heather Fawcett
  5. The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
  6. The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
  7. The Way Forward by Yung Pueblo
  8. Children of Virtue and Vengence by Tomi Adeyemi (DNF)
  9. Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien (DNF)

Books Read in February 2024

  1. All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen and Jory John
  2. Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley
  3. The Improbable Meet-Cute Series by various authors
    • The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren
    • Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez
    • Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne
    • Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory
    • With Any Luck by Ashley Poston
    • Royal Valentine by Sariah Wilson
  4. Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
  5. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
  6. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
  7. Happily Ever After by Debbie Tung
  8. Everything is OK by Debbie Tung
  9. The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
  10. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
  11. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
  12. The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
  13. The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz
  14. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Favorite Book This Month

I cannot decide on one because I loved them both so much, so I’ll have to make it a tie and award the title to both Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, and The Storyteller by Dave Grohl.

On The Blog

I didn’t write a lot of posts this month on the blog, other than book reviews (linked above) and Top Ten Tuesday posts.

Top Ten Tuesdays

Reading Challenges

2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge – 2/12
2024 Series Ender Reading Challenge – 1/5
2024 Finishing the Series Challenge – 2/4
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge – 3/12
2024 Bookish Books Challenge – 3/10
2024 Audiobook Challenge – 15/30
2024 Library Love Reading Challenge – 21/36

March 2024 TBR Intentions

I’ll do this every month as a sort of sticky-note to help remind me of the books I want to get to sooner rather than later. I don’t expect to stick to the list exactly, but it’s a great reminder for when I get distracted by new and shiny books!

  1. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (it’s my bookclub’s BOTM)
  2. Fairy Tale by Stephen King (I’ve read it, but there’s a readalong happening in March!)
  3. A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross (I’ve already started it)
  4. A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross (because it’s the sequel)
  5. The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (I’ve been anticipating it the most and I just got the book from the library!)
  6. Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (because I loved Legends & Lattes)
  7. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherworlds by Heather Fawcett (because I loved Encyclopedia of Faeries)

Hmm… It looks like this list is more reactionary based on urgency, timing, and excitement, but that’s okay for now. I’ll do better after I finish the ones I’m excited about!

How was your month in February? What were your most memorable moments? I hope you have a wonderful March with lots of great books!

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